


Vote for Burr

by JetGirl1832, tomatopudding



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Elections, Friendship, Gen, Middle School, Student Council, aaron is a mother hen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 07:17:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7925614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the most important part of the school year, student council elections.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vote for Burr

To say that the announcement came a shock was an understatement. Considering that Aaron had never even submitted his name, he was utterly baffled as to why the seventh grade home room teacher had just said his name when reading the short list of people running for student council president.

In front of him sat Thomas Jefferson, who apparently would have been running unopposed had Aaron's name not been called. He turned in his seat to face him, "May the best man win."  
Aaron leaned back in his chair, he hadn't wanted this, why was he on the ballot?

The answer came pretty quickly in the form of Alexander Hamilton leaning over from the neighboring desk, an expectant look on his face.

Burr pressed his lips into a thin line and shoved his books into his bag, "I hate you."

Alex looked taken aback, "Oh come on!"

"Alex," Aaron sighed.

"You'll make a great student council president!" insisted Alex, "I'll be your campaign manager."

"You did this for you didn't you?" Aaron raised his brow.

"No!" Alex replied.

Aaron gave him a stern knowing look.

"Maybe..." Alex admitted sheepishly, "but I just don't want Thomas to be president, he won't deal with what's important!"

"Like pizza lunch and longer recess?" Aaron asked.

"Exactly!"

"Then why didn't you run?" scoffed Aaron.

"Oh come on, you know why," Alex mumbled.

Aaron did know. Alex had served a brief stint as Aaron's co-representative for their class until an...incident...with one Charles Lee had caused the faculty to kick him out of student council.

"Right," Aaron said, shaking his head slightly.

"I still stand by what I did," Alex replied.

"Of course you do," Aaron shook his head, "but you weren't the one who had a broken nose."

"Hey, I had to scrape gum off of the bottoms of the desks for a week!" Alex gave a single sharp roll of his eyes and continued, "But that's not the point. You'd be awesome for the student council position. Better than Thomas, anyway."

"I really don't know what you have against him."

"I don't even know where to begin," Alex sighed dramatically, "have you heard half the things he's said about me?"

"I know that he can be a bit abrasive," Aaron allowed, "but so can you."

"Am not," Alex folded his arms across his chest.

"Don't make me go there."

The home room teacher, who just happened to be Alex's foster mother Martha Washington, cleared her throat lightly.

"Mr. Burr and Mr. Hamilton, if you could please concentrate."

Both boys sheepishly pulled out their composition books to complete their daily home room writing assignment. Aaron was definitely not ready to let the subject drop--his apparent candidacy, that is, not Alex's attitude. He would definitely be dropping out of the race as soon as he could.

Of course, that wasn't even close to what happened.

For the next couple of days Aaron tried his best to pretend the election wasn't happening and that he wasn't actually a part of the race. That all changed at lunch time.

He had noticed that people were looking at him more than usual, whispers following him in the hallways and some of the sixth grade girls had actually giggled when he walked by them. As he neared the cafeteria, Aaron starting seeing Thomas' campaign posters up on the wall, all featuring the other boy's smiling face. That was when he saw it, his poster. Or at least a poster supporting his campaign, because he certainly hadn't put it together. The poster was very large and very glittery. Very, very glittery.

He had no doubt in his mind who the mastermind mind behind that was.

"One thing you know for sure is that everyone should vote for Burr..." Aaron read under his breath.

"Do you like it?"

Alex appeared at Aaron's side, bouncing excitedly.

"It's," Aaron tried to be diplomatic, "Nice?"

"Is that really all you've got to say?" Alex prodded.

"Need I remind you I wanted nothing to do with this election in the first place?"

Alex flapped a hand, "Yeah whatever. You can still have more of an opinion on the campaign poster."

"Why is there so much glitter?" Aaron asked.

"Because glitter makes everything better."

Alex and Aaron both turned to the students who had just stepped up side them, the former with a huge grin and the latter with a long-suffering sigh. Lafayette was the one who had spoken and he looked supremely pleased with himself, the smug smile on Hercules' face showed that he'd also had something to do with making the poster, and John only had eyes for Alex as usual.

"What's going on here?"

"They are my recruits!" Alex proclaimed proudly, "You didn't think we could do this alone could you?"

Aaron resisted the urge to go bang his head against the wall. What had he done to deserve Alex's twisted definition of friendship?

Although he had been one of the first people actually willing to speak to him when he first arrived last year he had never expected this.

"I've already started writing your speech for next week," Alex continued, oblivious as always to Aaron's inner turmoil, "And your celebratory acceptance speech. And a concession speech, but you won't need that."

"Alex, this isn't a presidential election," Aaron said, "It's middle school student council."

"It doesn't hurt to be prepared."

"Alex," Aaron sighed, "I'm going to drop out of the race as soon as I can."

At that Alex looked very hurt, "But why?"

"I never really wanted to do this, you signed me up," Aaron pointed out, "As I've already mentioned several times."

Alex's eyes widened just a tiny bit further, his head tilting slightly to the right, eyebrows drawn together, and his lips pressed forward into a pout. It was the patented Alexander Hamilton Puppydog Eyes that even Aaron was unable to not give in to.

"I can't believe you are making me do this," Aaron groaned.

Alex clapped his hands delightedly, his expression melting into a grin, "Perfect! I'm your campaign manager, naturally. Laf and Herc are in charge of your image, so posters and such. John will deal with the human connection."

John brandished a sheet of stickers that proclaimed Vote for Burr in bold and colorful letters.

"How did you do all of this?" Aaron stared blankly.

"I have my ways," Alex said with a sly smile.

"And some easily convinced friends," Hercules added dryly.

"We were swayed by promises of cookies," John confided.

"And we all know Mrs. Washington makes the best cookies," Lafayette added.

Aaron couldn't argue with that.

"Okay," he agreed resignedly, "so we're doing this."

It didn't take long for Thomas to get his campaign into high gear, soon that was all anyone could talk about.

It was less what Thomas stood for, which really didn't matter in the long run it wasn't like student council president was able to make any substantial changes regardless of what they might promise in their speech, and more about the Tom4Prez cookies Jemmy Madison was handing out and the various cheers head cheerleader Sally Hemmings was leading in support of Thomas.

"We've got this," Alex spoke confidently.

Aaron wasn't so sure, and it certainly didn't help when Sally called for the rest of her squad to join her and did an entire dance routine. Aaron looked over at Alex, "Are you so sure about that?"

Alex glared at Thomas, "He may have us out gunned, out manned, and out cheerleadered but we are going to win this."

"I think you mean out womanned," a voice said primly.

Angelica Schuyler was the picture of grace. She got top marks in almost every subject, always dressed perfectly with never a hair out of place.

"I can't believe you're helping him," Alex grumped. The Washingtons were close with the Schuylers and therefore Angelica and her two sisters were some of Alex's closest friends.

"Thomas is a friend just like you are," Angelica replied.

"Traitor," Alex frowned.

"You are such a drama queen," sighed Angelica.

"Your point?" asked Alex, not offended in the slightest.

Angelica just laughed and shook her head, "Good luck with the speech on Friday, Aaron."

She sauntered off to where Thomas, Jemmy, and Sally were huddled.

"Please tell me you've got this covered?" Aaron asked Alex.

"Of course I do!" Alex grinned.

"Okay, that actually doesn't make me feel any better..." Aaron sighed.

Aaron was not nervous. Nope. Not at all. He was just holding onto his speech this tightly so he wouldn't lose the paper between now and when he had to walk onto the auditorium stage.

Thomas was currently in the middle of his speech, and from what he could hear and based on the cheering he was doing quite well. Now Aaron still wasn't all that concerned about winning, it was more of about how Alex would be let down. Sure this was a silly middle school election, they weren't going to change the world, but this really meant a lot to Alex.

As much as Aaron sighed and complained, Alex was his friend and Aaron didn't like letting people down. It was one of the traits his parents had instilled in his before their deaths and something that his grandparents continued to push.

There was a lot of loud cheering as Thomas neared reached the end of his speech.

"Hey."

Aaron startled slightly and whipped around to find Alex had come up behind him.

"You shouldn't be back here," Aaron blurted out. Okay maybe he was a bit nervous.

"I may have snuck past Mr. Adams," Alex said with a wink.

Aaron chuckled slightly.

"You got this," Alex told him seriously, "I know you do."

Thomas sauntered back stage, his usual wide grin in place. It took on a sharp edge when he saw Alex and Aaron.

"Good luck," Thomas said with mock sweetness, "You'll need it."

"Can I back out now?" Aaron asked.

"Nope," Alex shook his head.

"Why not?"

Instead responding Alex gave him a hard shove that forced him out of the wings to face the entire middle school.

Aaron tried to keep his breaths slow and even, holding his hands steady so that the paper in his hands wouldn't shake. Public speaking had never been his strong point.

"H-hello..." Aaron stammered as he he approached the podium.

The auditorium was as quiet as it could be, all eyes on him. He cleared his throat, willed his voice not to shake, and tried again.

"Hello teachers and students, I am here today to show you why I should be the new student council president."

Unlike before the kids didn't seem to be responding to him as he spoke, Alex said his speech would be great and honestly he wasn't feeling it.

He glanced off stage and caught Alex's eye. Alex gave him a huge thumbs up before Mr. Adams appeared behind him and started dragging him away. For whatever reason, this made Aaron feel a bit more calm and he went to continue his speech, a less forced smile on his face. This time, there was a more positive reaction from his audience.

By the end he was getting the same reactions Thomas had, and it felt pretty good.

The good mood evaporated when he managed to find Alex again. Alex and Thomas were nearly nose to nose and both fuming.

"Shut up Thomas!" Alex snarled at the taller boy.

Aaron had no idea what Thomas could have said that had gotten Alex so riled, not that it necessarily took much to do that.

"Alex back off," Aaron tried to intervene.

"Nuh uh," Alex protest, brushing Aaron off impatiently, "This is between you and me, Thomas."

"Oh really?" scoffed Thomas.

"Keep him out of this," Alex said, "Or...or I'll tell on you!"

Thomas laughed, "So I guess you're a teacher's pet and a tattletale!"

"Am not!" Alex glowered.

"You gonna go tell Mrs. Washington?" Jefferson raised his brow, "or should I say mommy?"

"Come on, Thomas, that's not fair," Aaron put in. He knew a thing or two about losing parents and finding new parental figures.

He also knew that it was a particularly touchy subject for Alex, something he disliked talking about.

"Oh, I forgot that you're his mommy too," said Thomas, "Making sure he made friends at school and that he acts like a good boy."

Although it wasn't particularly insulting to Aaron, he liked being a caretaker, he knew that Alex would be an idiot and would be insulted on his behalf. This could not end well.

"Thomas..." Aaron sighed.

But it was too late, Alex took his first swing at Thomas.

Thomas stepped back but not before Alex's first caught him in the shoulder. Alex may have been small for his age, but he was tough and he was a fighter. Thomas rubbed at his shoulder, his face twisting into an expression of pain.

"You're going to regret this," Thomas spoke through gritted teeth.

Thomas spun on his heel and began stalking away.

"I could never regret something that felt so good," Alex called at his retreating back.

"Alex what were you thinking?" Aaron spoke in a hushed tone.

Alex shrugged, casually shoving his hands into his pockets, "I didn't do anything he didn't deserve."

"That's not the point," Aaron pointed out.

Alex shrugged again.

"Come on let's go," Aaron directed.

"You're not my mother," Alex grumbled even as he fell into step by Aaron's side.

Aaron rolled his eyes, "Both of us know that. You're just letting Thomas get to you."

"I hate him," Alex muttered, "he's a jerk."

"You know the reason he says that stuff is to to get at you," Aaron reminded him.

"That doesn't make it any less annoying."

"True," conceded Aaron, "But the best way to deal with it is to just smile. Bullies always get frustrated if you smile when they insult you."

Alex laughed and flung a friendly arm around Aaron's shoulders.

Now what they didn't know was the Thomas had a few other tricks up his sleeve and as he touched the spot on his arm where Alexander had hit him he knew exactly what he needed to do.

"I still can't believe he hit you," Jemmy looked concerned.

"It wasn't that bad," Thomas said nonchalantly, although he preened under the attention of Jemmy and Sally.

"What're going to do?" asked Sally, "He can't get away with hitting you like that. It's just so mean! How are you so calm right now?"

"I don't get mad," Thomas said, a sly smile spreading across his face, "I get even. And I know exactly what to do."

"I swear," sighed Angelica, who was obviously not up for any of Thomas' nonsense, "You are Alex are both so melodramatic. You'd probably get along if you got your heads out of your asses."

"Hush Schuyler," Thomas snapped, "I've got a plan and if you don't like it you can leave."

Angelica considered it for a moment before giving a small shake of her head and crossing her arms resolutely, "What's the plan?"

"I'm going to get Aaron disqualified," replied Thomas.

"For something that he didn't even do," Angelica said flatly.

"It's my word against his," Thomas said with a shrug, "We'll see who the principal believes."

  
\----------

  
Aaron had never been called to Principal Hanover's office before and he didn't really know why he was being called there now. Although, when he saw Thomas sitting in front of the principal's desk with a subdued expression and clutching his shoulder pathetically, Aaron had a bit of an idea.

"Sit down Mr. Burr," Principal Hanover directed, so Aaron sat down in the only other empty seat available, "Do you know why you're here?"

Aaron shook his head, "No sir."

"Mr. Jefferson tells me," Hanover said, leaning forward slightly, "that there was a bit of an altercation following the student council election speeches yesterday."

"Yes," Aaron nodded, "but it wasn't with me-"

"That's not what I've heard," Hanover leaned back in his chair.

Aaron wasn't quite sure how to reply and glanced over at Thomas. Thomas snuck a small wink before returning to his previous expression. Aaron felt his blood start to simmer. That jerk.

"Principal Hanover," Aaron began, but the man cut him off once again.

"Mr. Jefferson is requesting that you be disqualified from the election due to improper conduct and I'm inclined to agree with him. It is never okay to hit another student, Mr. Burr."

"But sir!"

"Enough Mr. Burr," Hanover spoke firmly, "I will not tolerate this kind of behavior."

A commotion could be heard from outside the office door and the sound of Vice Principal Seabury's voice giving someone a command to "come back here this instant young man!" before the door to the office burst open and Alex stumbled through.

"Mr. Hamilton, what is the meaning of this interruption?" Hanover said.

"It wasn't Aaron's fault!" Alex proclaimed, "Thomas is lying, I hit him!"

"Is this true, Mr. Jefferson?" Hanover asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It is, sir," Alex insisted, "None of this was Aaron's fault. He even tried to stop me!"

"Alex..." Aaron muttered.

"So if you're going to blame anyone, blame me," Alex declared.

"Mr. Burr?" Hanover queried. At Aaron's nod, he continued, "Mr. Jefferson?"

Thomas looked slightly sour, but he also nodded in agreement. Hanover sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Mr. Burr, you may stay in the election, but Mr. Hamilton must cease his involvement with your campaign. And, Mr. Hamilton," he continued, "you will serve a week of after school detention for hitting another student."

"Yes sir..." Alex sighed.

Hanover dismissed them and Thomas shot Alex a glare before stalking off.

"How did you know that we'd be in there?" Aaron asked as they walked towards their lockers.

"Angelica told me about what Thomas was planning to do," Alex explained, "I couldn't let you get punished for something that I did."

Aaron smiled and clapped a hand on Alex's shoulder.

"Thanks."

  
\----------

  
The election results were due to be announced any minute and Aaron felt very calm. There was nothing he could do to change the results now, so there was no use in getting stressed.

Mrs. Washington stopped speaking for a moment as the PA system crackled to life.

"Good morning everyone," Mr. Adams voice came over, "today we are going to announce the results of the student council election."

Aaron tuned out while Adams read off the younger class representatives, the secretary, and he treasurer.

"And finally," Adams said, his voice crackling over the speaker, "next year's student council president is...Thomas Jefferson."

A loud cheer erupted from Thomas and his supporters, slightly muffling Adam's continued monologue which stated that as runner up Aaron would be the Vice President.

Aaron sighed, so he hadn't won... And all he could think was... Oh well.

"I'm sorry," Alex said, leaning over into Aaron's desk space.

"Why're you sorry?" Aaron asked, "There's nothing for you to be sorry for."

"It's my fault that you lost," Alex sighed, "I shouldn't have hit him."

"It was my campaign, not yours," Aaron said, "Any deficit in votes is only my own fault."

"But," Alex tried to protest.

"Alex," interrupted Burr, "it's okay. I promise. You still supported me and that's what matters."

"Really?" Alex asked sheepishly.

"Really," Aaron smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> This was loosely inspired by an episode of the Wonder Years.


End file.
